Arab and Muslim Americans and their allies are criticizing President Joe Biden’s response to the war between Israel and Hamas and calling on him to do more to avert a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. otherwise he will lose their support in the 2024 elections.

Many Arab Americans are outraged that Biden has not pushed for a cease-fire at a time when Palestinians are being killed even as they try to escape Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, more than a dozen academics, activists said. , community members and government officials.

Growing resentment could affect Biden’s re-election efforts.

In the state of Michigan Arab Americans make up 5% of voters. In other key states, such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, they make up 1.7 percent to 2 percent of voters, according to Jim Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.

Biden won Michigan with 50.6% in 2020, to Donald Trump’s 47.8%, and Pennsylvania with 50.01% to Trump’s 48.84%, a margin of less than 81,000 votes.

Arab and Muslim Americans are unlikely to support Trump, but may prefer to abstain and not vote for Biden either, some activists estimate.

“I do think it’s going to cost him Michigan,” said Laila al-Haddan, a writer and activist from Gaza who lives in Maryland.

While condemning the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, Arab Americans and Muslims note that Israel’s response has been disproportionate. Besides, Biden’s inability to condemn the bombing of Gaza has made many question the American president’s commitment to a foreign policy “centered on human rights”.

Change requests

Abdullah Hammoudi, the first Arab American mayor of Dearborn, Michigann, home to the largest Muslim population per capita in the US, criticized Biden’s failure to condemn the complete siege Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip; cutting off food, water and fuel supplies to the enclave.

“Nothing could have prepared us for the complete erasure of our voices and the radio silence of those we elected to protect and represent us,” he wrote on Platform X. “Members of our families trapped in Gaza are being ignored, pleas our calls for a truce are being drowned out by the drums of war”.

The White House has pointed out that both The US president and other officials have repeatedly pushed for the removal of Americans from Gaza.while yesterday Tuesday Biden complained that help isn’t coming ‘fast enough’ in the Palestinian enclave.

Linda Sarsour, former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, told hundreds of people attending a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) event on Saturday that American Muslims should make political donations based on the policy change. .

Many are pressing Biden to push Israel to temporarily halt its attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have killed thousands of people.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza “is now on the brink of genocide targeting the entire Palestinian population,” CAIR, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the US, has complained, adding that government officials will be “complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza” if they do not intervene.

Biden’s intention to offer an additional $14 billion in US aid to Israel is also causing backlash.

“If you look at their rhetoric, it’s unbelievable, and now they’re trying to give billions and billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, and about $100 million in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians,” said Said Achan, a Palestinian-American professor at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. .

Even former US President Barack Obama wrote in an op-ed on Monday calling on Washington to continue to lead the world in “accelerating the access of critical aid and supplies to the increasingly desperate population of Gaza.”

The White House responds

Biden has appointed more Arabs and Muslims to various political positions than any of his predecessors, including the first two Muslim federal judges, but this has not affected his politics.

The White House has indicated that it is aware of and responds to criticism of its policies by holding meetings with government officials and community members, while underscored Biden’s efforts both publicly and behind the scenes to make sure aid reaches Gaza. The American president has also made many speeches about the need to tackle Islamophobia and hatred of all kinds.

Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zidges and his adviser Anita Dunn have been meeting with members of the Arab and Muslim communities as well as White House staff members who belong to them, and are calling on other senior officials to do the same.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his deputy John Finer met with Arab and Muslim American prominent community members on Oct. 13, and White House officials welcomed 30 Palestinian-American youth on Friday.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken acknowledged the difficulties facing members of his ministry in a letter he addressed to them on Thursday and Monday met with representatives of the Arab-American community and American Jewish groups.

A veteran of the ministry, Josh Paul, resigned last week after he charged that senior officials refused to address his concerns about “the sending of lethal weapons to Israel while the people in Gaza are facing their annihilation.” in his LinkedIn post.